An 8.2 magnitude earthquake shook Chile’s northern coast on Tuesday, resulting in the deaths of at least 7 people. The earthquake hit at around 8:46pm local time and was located 99 kilometers to the northwest of the city of Iquique and at a depth of 10 kilometers below surface of the Pacific Ocean. In response, President Michelle Bachelet declared an emergency zone in the regions of Arica, Parinacota and Tarpacá. (CNN Espanol 4/1/2014)

The hundreds of Costa Ricans who participated in the recent Earth Hour event helped the country save 5% in electricity by turning off their lights for one hour. While most of Costa Rica’s electricity is generated by hydropower, during dry seasons, the national electric country must switch to highly contaminating bunker fuels. (El Financiero 4/1/2014)

Mexico

Former Mexican presidential candidate, Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador, called for a public information meeting on “Cabo Dorado” a new large-scale tourism and real-estate project proposed on 3,770 hectares neighboring the Cabo Pulmo National Park. In calling for a public meeting, Lopez Obrador joined hundreds of citizens and civil society groups who have expressed concerned about the potential impacts from Cabo Dorado. (El Independiente 4/4/2014)

The Bufa windpark in Zacatecas, currently under construction, will begin supplying power to Volkswagen by the end of the year. The wind park is operated by the Mexico Power Group and will supply 60 percent of Volkswagen’s production facilities in the country, as part of the auto-manufacturer’s Think Blue strategy which aims to reduce the firm’s environmental footprint. The Bufa windpark will help avoid 140 thousand tons of CO2 each year (Milenio 4/3/2014)

About

Switchboard is the staff blog of the Natural Resources Defense Council, the nation’s most effective environmental group. For more about our work, including in-depth policy documents, action alerts and ways you can contribute, visit NRDC.org.